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Austin Lawyer Found Dead Days After Being Caught On Surveillance Pulling Gun On Ex-Girlfriend
Gavin Rush's death comes just four days after police allege he walked into an Austin bar and aimed a gun at his ex-girlfriend after she refused to speak with him. He was tackled to the ground by two customers.
A Texas attorney caught pulling a gun on his ex-girlfriend on chilling surveillance footage at an Austin bar, has been found dead.
Austin Police confirmed to Oxygen.com that Gavin Rush, 41, was found dead Wednesday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. at the 13500 block of Lyndhurst St. after police received a request for a welfare check.
“The death is not considered suspicious and investigation is still ongoing,” police said without revealing a cause of death.
Just four days earlier, authorities said Rush walked into the Anderson Mill Pub where his ex-girlfriend was working and pointed a gun at her after she refused to talk to him, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by ABC affiliate KVUE.
The woman had reportedly ended a three-year relationship with Rush, who worked at an Austin-area law firm, about a month and a half before the shooting, Fox affiliate KTBC reports.
Rush had gotten upset when he learned she was dating someone new and allegedly began sending her threatening text messages suggesting he might harm her or her new love interest, causing the woman to cut off communication with him.
Rush went into the bar where she worked as a bartender around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday to confront her, authorities said.
Rush allegedly walked into the bar, placed a small leather satchel on top of the bar and asked whether he could speak to her, according to the court records. When the woman told him “no,” he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her chest.
Two bar patrons quickly tackled him to the ground as three shots were fired, according to the affidavit also obtained by CBS affiliate KEYE. No one was struck by the gunfire, which hit a mirror behind his ex-girlfriend and nearly missed his own head.
“I don’t remember doing this, but I pushed his hand up and the gun went off,” one of the patrons, who asked to remain anonymous, told KVUE. “Then we started flying backwards. I turned and grabbed him around the neck and another shot went off.”
One customer told police that Rush tried to shoot himself in the head with the weapon during the scuffle, but one of the men was able to get his finger between the trigger and the guard of the gun, preventing it from firing.
Austin Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly posted disturbing surveillance footage of the incident on Twitter shortly after the shooting, writing, “I’m deeply disturbed watching this video and committed to a safe city.”
"Every time I watch that video, I just want to throw up, you know," one of the customers who tackled Rush said of the video.
Police confirmed to Oxygen.com that they were called to the bar at 11:37 a.m. Saturday after receiving a call of “shots fired” and that Rush was taken into custody.
He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and given a $40,000 bond.
He was released from jail 48 hours after posting bond. Typically, in Texas, those arrested are only required to pay 10 percent of the total bond to be released, according to the Fort-Worth Star Telegram.
The decision to hold him on what some considered a low bond amount outraged some, including the patrons of the bar that day.
"For $4,000, you can get out, go home, watch Netflix after trying to murder your ex-girlfriend – are you kidding me?" one of the customers told KVUE.
Rush was fired from the law firm where he worked shortly after the incident.
“Gavin Rush no longer works at the firm,” the law firm told KTBC in a statement. “We do not tolerate hatred or violence of any kind. Our thoughts are with the victims who experienced a significant trauma that day.”
Rush had previously been charged with assault and family violence in 2017 in connection with an incident involving another woman. The charge was ultimately dismissed after he completed counseling on anger management, KVUE reports.
